Forces

Barracuda

Hanwha Barracuda vehicles on the streets of West Papua

Barracuda 'riot suppression' vehicles are a familiar sight wherever there is protest activity in West Papua. A series of silent protests held outside the trial of Victor Yeimo during 2022 and 2023 have been encircled by these heavily armed vehicles. Victor Yeimo is the spokesperson of the West Papuan National Committee (KNPB), a civil society group advocating dialogue and referendum. Yeimo is being tried for 'treason'.

Hanwha (formerly Doosan) sold 20 Barracuda weaponised vehicles to Indonesia in 2004. In 2022 Hanwha signed a contract with POLRI to supply 25 more of the weapons.

The Barracuda 4×4 armored wheeled vehicle is developed with top-of-the-line technology, and is capable of effectively performing security maintenance, riot suppression, and patrol missions with excellent high-speed maneuverability and outstanding protection capacity.

Effectively a mobile weapons station, the Barracuda can be equipped with various types of weaponry. SMB (Heavy Machine Gun) Browning M2HB 12.7 mm and 7.62 caliber medium machine gun can be mounted on the roof. In the Brimob variant, three viewing glasses are provided on either side. Under each glass block is a firing port suitable for the SS-1, M16 or Steyr AUG barrel.

The Barracuda is based on Thyssen Henschel's Radpanzer TM-170. Thyssen has been acquired by Rheinmetall.

AK-2000P

This rifle is Norinco's version of the Russian Kalashnikov, or AK 101 weapons. Thousands of the AK 2000Ps have been sold to the Indonesian Police or POLRI in the past two decades. The BriMob training manual contains advice about its use and BriMob as well as ordinary police can be seen carrying this gun in West Papua.

POLRI with the AK 2000P gun

BriMob with Norinco AK 2000P guns

Patrol Boats

In 2011, the Australian government donated 3 sophisticated patrol boats worth USD $5 million to POLRI. A further USD $2 million was added for operational costs for the vessels. At the same time, an amount of USD $4.8 million was donated to POLRI’s Cyber Crime unit.

Scorpion Evo 3

The EVO 3 is a 9mm carbine available as a submachine gun variant (A1), or a semi-automatic (S1). It is mechanically similar to the Škorpion vz. 61. It is used by Indonesia’s RESMOB, who purchased the guns following a visit to the CZ factory in 2016 and by TNI's Kostrad anti-terror unit.

Steyr AUG

The Steyr Aug is a “bull-pup” assault rifle manufactured by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG. It is in use by dozens of police and military units around the world. Members of the Indonesian security forces are regularly pictured carrying Steyr AUG assault rifles, and the weapon is known to be used by BRIMOB, KOPASKA, KOPASSUS and Detachment 88. An Australian variant. the F88, is manufactured under license by Thales Australia at its Lithgow factory. It is possible that the Australian version is also in use in West Papua.

Members of BRIMOB have regularly been photographed carrying Steyr AUG weapons in Papua, including when policing protests, and when on patrol.

The sight is manufactured by Swarovski Optik.

BriMob in West Papua armed with Steyr AUG weapons.

Glock 17

Glock 17 sold by GLOCK in Austria

The Glock 17 is used by BRIMOB, Kopassus and Detachment-88. The weapon is listed on the SALW guide as present in Indonesia. Local media sources cite BRIMOB groups training with Glock weapons, and the pistol can be seen in numerous photos of special forces, including intel, operatives in West Papua.

Unidentified forces with Glock pistol, Intan Jaya, West Papua 2022

M1911 semi-automatic pistol

The M1911 is a commonly used handgun among BriMob police. It is also produced locally by Pindad, as the Pindad P1. 

MP5 submachine gun

Media reports confirm that Detachment-88 are armed with MP5 submachine guns. The weapon is also listed on the SALW guide on Small Arms and Light Weapons as being present in Indonesia, and members of Detachment-88 have been photographed carrying weapons that appear to be MP5 weapons in training.

A TNI soldier with an HK MP5 machine gun